“ The most significant feature in the early history of the state was the struggle between the Low Country, which centred about Charleston, and the Up Country, which was settled largely by Scotch-Irish, who came down the mountain valleys from North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania. The great planters of the low country had wealth, the small farmers of the up country had numbers. Under the first state constitution, adopted in March 1776, the low country element maintained the ascendancy which they had possessed during the colonial period. ”

“ Up to the 1st of January 1898 all persons otherwise qualified could register, provided they could read any section of the constitution or understand and explain it when read to them by the registration officer, and all persons so registered were qualified voters for life. The obvious intention was to disfranchise illiterate negroes, but not illiterate whites. ”

“ The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court and two circuit courts, a court of common pleas having civil jurisdiction, and a court of general sessions having criminal jurisdiction. The supreme court consists of a chief justice and three associates, elected by a joint viva voce vote of the General Assembly for a term of eight years. ”

“ The county in which the crime occurs is, without regard to the conduct of the officers, liable in damages of not less than $2000 to the legal representative of the person lynched; the county is authorized, however, to recover this amount from the persons engaged in the lynching. A fourth unusual feature is that South Carolina has applied the principle of direct primary nominations to all elective officials from governor down. United States senators are in practice elected by the people, for the legislature merely registers the result of the primary. ”

“ There was to be one representative for every sixty-second part of the whole number of white inhabitants of the state and one for every sixty-second part of the taxes raised by the legislature. More harmonious relations were in time established, partly because of improvements in the methods of transport, but mainly as a result of outside pressure in the form of criticism of slavery and the adoption by the national government of an economic policy which favoured the manufacturers at the expense of the agricultural interests. ”

“ More than half of the manufacturing establishments were engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods, of lumber and timber, of fertilizers, of cotton-seed oil and cake, of lumber and planing-mill products, of cars and general shop construction, and of hosiery and knit goods. ”

“ A homestead in lands to the value of $1000, the products of the same, and personal property to the value of $500 which belong to the head of a family or to the husband and wife jointly are exempt from attachment, levy or sale except for taxes, purchase money or debts contracted in making improvements or repairs. The exemption of the homestead continues for the benefit of the widow or for the children alone, whether minors or not, provided it is occupied by some of them, and it may be partitioned among the children regardless of debts. ”

“ Snow is uncommon in the south-east of the state, and whenever there is a snow-storm the snow usually melts as it falls; but in the centre and north-west occasionally covers the ground to a depth of several inches. The prevailing winds are from the south-west along the coast, from the north-east in the north-central section, and from the west in the west section. Tornado winds sometimes occur in the west section, and the east section occasionally suffers from West Indian hurricanes. ”

“ Of the 155,355 farms in the state in 1900, 85,381 were worked by negroes of whom 22.2% were owners of their farms, 49.7% cash tenants and 27.9% share tenants.
The state long out-ranked all other states in the growing of rice, but this industry has declined, and South Carolina is now surpassed by both Louisiana and Texas. Cotton is the state's most valuable crop. The cotton product of the state in 1889 was 747,190 bales, in 1899 it was 881,422 bales, and in 1909, 1,095,000 bales. ”

“ A married woman may hold, acquire and dispose of property as if she were single, and the descent of the estate of a husband dying intestate is the same as that of a wife dying intestate, the survivor being entitled to one-third of the estate if there are one or more children, and to one-half of the estate if there are no children or other lineal descendants. ”

“ The political history of the state since 1877 presents some interesting features. Practically the entire white population is Democratic, partly for historical reasons and partly because of a feeling that union is necessary to maintain white supremacy. The old warfare between the Up Country and the Low Country has been renewed in a modified form in the conflict between Reformers and Conservatives. ”

“ In only one other state, Mississippi, in 1900 the negroes exceeded the whites; in South Carolina 58.4% of the total, or 782,321, were negroes or of negro descent, and 41.6% were whites; but there was a slight falling-off in the percentage of negroes, this having been 59.9% in 1890. Of the total population, 99.6% were native-born. There were, in 1900, 552,436 native whites; 5,528 persons of foreign birth, 121 Indians and 67 Chinese. ”

“ In all sections of the Piedmont Plateau the subsoil is a reddish or yellowish clay. In the upper section of the Coastal Plain region the soil is for the most part a loose sand, but lower down it becomes finer, more tenacious, and consequently more fertile.
Agriculture.—The number of farms in South Carolina was 93,864 in 1880, 115,008 in 1890 and 154,166 in 1900—the number for the two last named years not including farms of less than 3 acres and of relatively small productivity. The total acreage in farms in 1880 was 13,457,613 acres, of which 4132 acres were improved ”

“ The greatest range of extremes in the state is from 11° F. at Santuck, Union county, in February 1899, to 106° F. at Columbia in August 1900. For the whole state the mean annual temperature is about 63° F., the mean summer temperature 79° F., and the mean winter temperature 44° F. In nearly all sections January is the coldest month and July the warmest. The mean annual rainfall for the state is about 49 in., and its distribution is excellent. Extremes for the various sections range only from 53.4 in. at Charleston to 44.4 in. at Stateburg, in Sumter county. ”

“ The number of hours' labour for operatives and employés in cotton and woollen mills is limited to sixty a week and must not exceed eleven in any one day, except for making up lost time to the extent of sixty hours in any one year. ”

“ Although few battles were fought within her limits, because of the distance from the frontier, South Carolina made many sacrifices in the interest of her section. With a white population of 291,300 at the beginning of the conflict, the state put into the field during the four years 62,838 effective men, with an enrolment, including reserves, of 71,083, of whom 22% were killed on the field or died in prison. ”

“ Forests.—The principal lumber resource of South Carolina is yellow (or “southern”) pine, and there is also a small quantity of cypress. The stand of yellow pine in the state in 1880 was estimated at 5316 million ft.; and in 1905 it was estimated at 3363 million ft. The value of the lumber product increased from $1,108,880 in 1850 to $5,207,184 in 1900. ”

“ Among indigenous trees, shrubs and vines that bear edible fruits or nuts the state has the blackberry, grape, pawpaw, persimmon, plum, crab apple, hickory, chestnut and hazel nut. The English walnut, pecan, apple, apricot, pear and cherry are also cultivated. Both medicinal and flowering plants are exceptionally abundant ”

“ Of farms of 1000 acres and more there were 1635 in 1880 and 1010 in 1900; of between 500 acres and 1000 acres there were 3693 in 1880 and 2314 in 1900; of 50 acres and less than 100 acres there were 13,612 in 1880 and 29,944 in 1900; of 20 acres and less than 50 acres there were 3688 in 1880 and 5261 in 1900. Farms worked by owners numbered 46,645 in 1880 and 60,471 in 1900 ”

“ Manufactures.—The number of factories in South Carolina in 1900 was 1369, in 1905, 1399 [1] ; the amount of capital invested in such establishments was $62,750,027 in 1900, and in 1905 $113,422,224; the value of products in 1900 was $53,335,811; in 1905, $79,376,262; and the average number of wage earners in
1900, 47,025, and in 1905, $9,441. Except in number, the rural establishments showed greater increases than the urban. [2] The number of rural establishments in 1900 was 1174; in 1905, 1179; and the number of urban establishments in 1900, 195 ”

“ William Moultrie, Memoirs of the American Revolution, so for as it related to the States of North and South Carolina and Georgia (2 vols., New York, 1802) ; John Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution relating to the State of South Carolina (2 vols., Charleston, 1821) ; and R. W. Gibbes, Documentary History of the American Revolution (3 vols., Columbia, 1853; New York, 1857) . Very little has been written on the period since 1783. David F. Houston, Critical Study of Nullification in South Carolina (New York, 1896) , is a concise, scholarly work. ”